Shirk in Disguise

Chapter 7

An hour rolled by and Yusuf finally heaved a sigh of relief as he finished the transfers. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a bit to clear his mind. He certainly knew that the mysterious lady had made an outstanding and bold imprint on him to make him behave as he did that day.

He smiled with inner satisfaction. "May God bless that lady," he prayed as he got up from his seat. On second thoughts, he sat back and called his secretary who wasted no time in answering his call.

"Inform the pensioners waiting outside to queue up; their long wait has finally come to an end," he instructed her. With their respective accounts credited, they could withdraw their money over the counter or from the ATM.

"Yes Sir," she replied as she shuffled out of the room to carry out his orders.

Yusuf, on the other hand, got up from his seat and went to look out the window. The people outside had turned weary and were sitting on available spaces on the stone pavement. He strained his eyes, hopeful that he could see her but unfortunately, he had no luck.

From his stand by the window, he heard his secretary's voice passing out his instructions to the pensioners and watched as the crowd slowly but steadily organized itself in an orderly queue.

He was just about to get back to his seat when he saw her on the queue – she was smiling. Without knowing why, he also began to grin absentmindedly. He was so happy that he had made her smile.

By the time he managed to tear his eyes away from the window, the exhaustion of the past couple of hours had begun to take its toll on him. He sat on his chair and before long, he started dozing. He had over-tasked himself that day and his mind really needed some rest as it wasn't used to such a flurry of activities. A few moments later, he drifted off into a deep sleep.

The hours rolled by but Yusuf was lost to the world. Instead, he viewed himself on a lonely stretch of land which was very dark and gloomy. He stood for a while, observing his surroundings and wondering where he was and why he was alone in the place. Finding no immediate answers, he instinctively walked on and to his utmost surprise, no end was in sight.

However, he made another observation – the path cleared up and lightened mysteriously as he walked on. Looking back, he saw the path behind him as gloomy as ever while the path before him brightened as he surged forward. He looked around but saw no source of light...until he strained his eyes to see a bright light far ahead.

He suddenly had the urge to go further, at least to find the source of the light. Inquisitiveness gripped him as he trudged on but the distance seemed never-ending.

What kind of experience is this? He asked himself, but no answer was readily available. Thinking that his speed was not enough, he began to run, hoping to shorten the distance between him and the bright light but on the contrary, the light also seemed to move farther.

He then began to be gripped by fear; it wasn't a normal experience at all. He thought of slowing down but instead, his resolution stiffened and he continued running and reaching for the mysterious bright light.

Surprisingly, he wasn't slowed down by fatigue even though he seemed to have run for hours. As he continued running, a thought surfaced on his mind.

"I can't do this alone," he whispered. "Ya Allah, help me!" he cried. Suddenly, the light seemed brighter as it seemed to come closer to him until he was almost blinded by it. At this instant, he woke up.

He woke up while dripping with sweat, his heart heaving. He looked around him and realized that he had passed out for some hours. Suddenly, he remembered the pensioners who had been queuing while he drifted off to a deep sleep. He quickly ran to the window to check if they were still there but unfortunately, not a soul was there.

He half-walked, half-ran outside, but the pavement was deserted. He asked his secretary of their whereabouts and she informed him that they'd happily returned to their various homes after being attended to.

Yusuf let out a sigh of exasperation. He had really wanted to see the mysterious lady again but unfortunately, he'd been unable to do that. Still clutching to a straw of hope, he hurried outside to check but not a soul was seen.

"Ya Allah..." he prayed, "Help me find her."

He surprised even himself – did he just reach out to Allah? The connection he felt was stronger than ever before. Or was it the effect of the dream...or better still, was it the after-effect of his not-so-coincidental meetings with that certain person?? He remembered her smile and smiled inadvertently before he checked himself.

What has this mysterious lady done to me??? The questions rang in his mind, unanswered and unanswerable...at least for the meantime.   

An Eye-opener, right? What do you think of Yusuf's dream?

Also...tell me what you think of dreams in general - visions or mere figments of our imagination??

Leave your comments...don't be shy. Also take time to vote and share. I'd love that very much!😊